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Announcing: Migrant Rights Network

On December 8th and 9th, nearly 60 representatives of 35 organizations met in Huron-Wendat, Haudenosaunee, Anishinabe, Mississaugas of the New Credit territory (Toronto).

Today, December 18th, 2018, International Migrants Day, we are forming a new cross-Canada organization, the MIGRANT RIGHTS NETWORK, which will combat racism and fight for migrant justice. We call on allies to spread the word.

The Migrant Rights Network will carry out popular education for ourselves and for the broader public. We will launch an anti-racist, migrant justice platform before the federal elections. We call for coordinated, self-organized actions on:

March 21, 2019 (International Day for Elimination of Racism);

May 1, 2019 (International Workers Day);

June 16, 2019 (Father’s Day & International Domestic Workers Day); and

September 2, 2019 (Labour Day)

Migrant and refugee groups, and supporters across Canada who want to take action with us, get in touch.

MIGRANT RIGHTS NETWORK VISION

We prioritize the leadership and self-organization of racialized, working class, migrants, refugees and displaced people. We will do so in alliance with labour, community, faith, environmental, Indigenous, arts and media organizations. We will strive to build global alliances for migrant justice.

Immigration policies separate us. Government policies polarize and divide us. We are given different rights on the basis of the places of our birth, the colour of our skin, the accents we have, and the bodies we inhabit. We are denied labour protections, decent healthcare, the ability to change jobs, and to be with our families. We reject these categories of migrant, irregular, refugee, undocumented, citizen. We assert our humanity.

We demand permanent resident status for all migrants and refugees already here, and landed status on arrival for those that will arrive in the future. We particularly call for Landed Status Now for Care Workers. We demand an end to detentions and deportations. We demand labour mobility. We want decent work and fair wages. We want all protections and entitlements. We demand an end to discrimination and criminalization of migrants, refugees and racialized people. We particularly demand an end to anti-Black racisms.

We are here because we were forced to leave our homes. We have been pushed out by war, poverty, persecution, extraction, joblessness, social oppressions and environmental collapse. We have been displaced in the interest of profit for the few. We are courageous – we are the exodus from Central America, the boats in the Mediterranean and the many migrant caravans. Our struggle is as much for rights and protections here, as it is to create global justice so that we are not forced to migrate in the first place.